The Importance of Importing

The Importance of Importing

Save Time By Importing

Importing data manually into a program can be a time consuming and expensive exercise. There are a large number of benefits to using a data importer to have the work done for you.

Here are some things to to consider

It is time efficient. Through the use of an effective data importer, you can decrease the labour costs associated in hiring someone to do this for you manually. In addition to this, there is no time taken to train staff, which means that your staff to focus on more meaningful work to value add to your business. The data is also entered at a much faster speed. When dealing with large quantities of entries, it can be very time consuming to have someone do this manually – using a data importer is prompt and it can run in the background of other tasks being completed.

It is reliable. By using a data importer, you eliminate any human error that could occur. With a large quantity of data that is often not engaging, it is easy to introduce spelling mistakes and transpose figures, enter data in the wrong field or skip entry fields. Through the data importer software, you can rely on the information that is inputted has a 100% accuracy rate.

It is clear. Importing data gives you the opportunity to review all data in a single spread sheet to check for uniformity and to streamline your data before importing. Data gaps and data anomalies are often easier to spot in the context of all data. It enables you to understand the content and also how to better manage your data and flow of information.

It is secure. Using a data importer is confidential which means you can work with confidential and sensitive data without it being mishandled. With zero risks, it can provide the users and business with peace of mind.

When using a data importer it is crucial to ensure that the information you are entering is tidy and well managed. If you’re entering information into a data importer where the content is disorganised, you introduce issues that will counteract the benefits to using a data importer. For example, the information is no longer accurate and additional time is needed to rectify the issues that have occurred. Here is our checklist to ensure that you are ready to import your data;

Data formatting – Open the data and check that it is consistent.

Is capitalisation the same throughout?

Are state names in full or abbreviated and are these all entered the same?

Has there been any formatting applied to phone number entries and does every phone number entered have the same formatting?

Are there any data gaps that you could fill? For example, if you look in your email program, are their email addresses you have used that you do not have recorded against clients?

Spreadsheet formatting

Remove any blank columns and lines from spread sheet. This includes checking if there are any hidden lines or columns and removing them.

Make sure that every column has a header

Only 1 sheet may be imported. Remove any other sheets from the document.

Remove any totals, calculations, comments from the sheet.

As mentioned previously, the benefit to taking the time to ensure that your data is clean and tidy before importing it ensures that the information is accurate and you are able to rely on the information included.